Why Microsoft Corporation (MSFT), KB Home (KBH) and Three Other Stocks Are on Investors’ Radars Today

Page 1 of 2

Traders are watching crude today after yesterday’s API report showed a sizable draw-down in inventories over the past week. If the EIA confirms and OPEC can provide some positive statements during its informal Algerian meeting, sentiment around the commodity could improve.

In this article, we take a closer look at five other stocks traders are watching today: Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), KB Home (NYSE:KBH), FedEx Corporation (NYSE:FDX), 8Point3 Energy Partners LP (NASDAQ:CAFD), and Mirna Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:MIRN). In addition, we will use data from the latest round of 13F filings in order to see how the funds from our database traded these stocks during the second quarter.

Hedge fund sentiment is an important metric for assessing the long-term profitability. At Insider Monkey, we track over 700 hedge funds, whose quarterly 13F filings we analyze and determine their collective sentiment towards several thousand stocks. However, our research has shown that the best strategy is to follow hedge funds into their small-cap picks. This approach can allow monthly returns of nearly 95 basis points above the market, as we determined through extensive backtests covering the period between 1999 and 2012 (see the details here).

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), Microsoft sign, building, symbole, logo, nokia,

Taina Sohlman / Shutterstock.com

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is in the spotlight after the software giant announced that it is hiking its quarterly dividend by 8.3% to $0.39 per share. Moreover, Microsoft’s board has approved a new buyback authorization of up to $40 billion. At current prices, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s dividend translates into a 2.75% forward yield, considerably higher than the current 10-year yield. Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management raised its position by 1% in the second quarter to over 18.3 million shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) at the end of June.

Follow Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Traders are talking about KB Home (NYSE:KBH) after the home builder reported earnings of $0.42 per share for its third quarter, beating the consensus by $0.03 per share. Although revenues for the time period came in at $913.28 million, or $30.86 million under the average analyst estimate, traders chose to focus on the bottom line beat and shares of KB Home are well in the green in extended market trading. The future is also strong for KB Home as the company’s backlog rose by 17% year-over-year to $1.85 billion. Shares of the company are now up more than 21% year-to-date and trade for around 9.0 times forward earnings. Of the around 750 funds we track, 16 owned $136.74 million worth of KB Home (NYSE:KBH)’s stock, which accounted for 10.70% of the float on June 30.

Follow Kb Home (NYSE:KBH)

On the next page, we take a closer look at FedEx Corporation, 8Point3 Energy Partners LP, and Mirna Therapeutics Inc.

Page 1 of 2